February 06, 2023

How To Trust Your Gut in Business and Health with Claire and Ellen Rudolph of WellTheory

55 minutes

Growing up, sisters Ellen and Claire, started a childcare summer camp for neighborhood children. Eventually, they decided to take what they learned from that experience, along with their work backgrounds, and combine it with the knowledge they had learned while waiting for a diagnosis for Ellen’s autoimmune disease and Claire’s mold exposure to create a place for others who are struggling to get quality help without the gaslighting.

Today, we sit down with Ellen and Claire Rudolph, sisters and co-founders of WellTheory, a health and wellness membership that caters to people who have autoimmune disease. They share about their first business, how their wellness journeys led to starting WellTheory, how going viral has helped their marketing, and so much more.

“I have a really distinct memory of getting my lab results while I was on the subway––I was living in New York at the time––and just breaking down in tears, because I didn't know what that meant for me and my future. And I vowed at that moment that once I got better, this was the area that I needed to dedicate my life to. And from there, I started to educate myself on what I was putting in and all my body started to embrace using food as medicine and really transformed my entire lifestyle.” - Ellen Rudolph

If you’re looking to take your business to the next level, join the Entreprenista League today at entreprenista.com/join. We can’t wait to welcome you, support you, and be part of your business journey!

This week's takeaways from Entreprenista:

Claire and Ellen talk about their childhood business (1:58)

Ellen and Claire share about their backgrounds (5:00)

Ellen gives us details about her health journey and how it caused her to start WellTheory (9:47)

Ellen discusses the differences between what WellTheory is now versus what she thought it would be in the beginning (21:01)

Claire shares what a member of WellTheory can expect in their membership (25:16)

Ellen talks about marketing and how sharing her story went viral (29:08)

Claire and Ellen share the learning lessons of starting a membership business model (32:48)

Ellen gives advice about fundraising (35:49)

Rapid fire questions (39:57)

Managing a public persona as a private person (44:11)

How Claire and Ellen balance their relationship as sisters and co-founders (46:22)

What being an Entreprenista means to Claire and Ellen (49:25)

Resources Mentioned:

WellTheory Discount Code for Entreprenista Listeners

Bill.com

UserInterviews.com

UserTesting.com

WorkFlowy

Notion

Our Favorite Quotes:

“I went to doctor after doctor and got no answers. My symptoms were continually dismissed. And I was made to believe that it was all in my head. And I had many physicians that referred me out to therapists who could help me with my ‘psychological issues.’” - Ellen Rudolph

“I was lucky, you know, it only took me a year to a year and a half to get a diagnosis. For most folks, it takes four and a half years on average to get a diagnosis. And that's just not okay. It's a really long time to be living in uncertainty, and to just not be feeling like yourself.” - Claire Rudoplh

“One thing I remember watching Ellen in her health journey was she always had this intuition that I might have gotten 20 people to tell me that there's nothing wrong, but I know that something's wrong. And I think you need that same intuition and to listen to that, as an entrepreneur, when you're building something.” - Claire Rudolph

Connect with Ellen and Claire Rudolph :

WellTheory.com

Ellen on TikTok

...more